Blog Posts From My Journey to CCENT Tagged With labhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent
Thu, 17 May 2012 17:14:22 GMTJive Engage 7.0.3.1 (http://jivesoftware.com/products/)2012-05-17T17:14:22ZI Passed!!!https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/05/17/i-passed
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:c6ef7cbc-b2ff-4632-98df-f858c61537fc] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>I&#8217;m happy to report that I passed the ICND1 640-822 exam I took on May 12! I guess I can&#8217;t quite call myself a CCENT yet because the certificate hasn&#8217;t arrived in the mail, but it should be here soon!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;m honestly a little shocked, because I didn&#8217;t walk into the testing center fully confident that I would pass. Even though I rescheduled my test to give myself extra time to study, I hadn&#8217;t been consistently passing the practice exams I was taking leading up to the exam. In fact, my score on the final practice exam I took was about 200 points lower than my official score!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>The testing experience itself went pretty smoothly. Except for the proctor, I was the only person there most of the time, which really kept distractions to a minimum. I spent about two hours total at the testing center, including the time it took to check in, store my valuables in a locker, and complete the tutorial and survey that came before and after the exam, respectively. Based on my &#8220;dry run&rdquo; experience I knew I didn&#8217;t need to put a big emphasis on being speedy, so I took my time and thoroughly read each question and answer. Even so, I had around 30 minutes left on the clock when I finished up the exam.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Looking back on my CCENT journey, I really do feel like I&#8217;ve gained a lot of practical knowledge that I&#8217;ll probably use in the future. I&#8217;ve taken plenty of exams that felt like they were full of extraneous content or questions that were difficult only for the sake of being difficult. I don&#8217;t feel that here. There were plenty of challenges along the way, but most of them were the same types of challenging situations that networking professionals deal with every day. I think that when I do receive my CCENT certificate in the mail, it will feel like a validation of all the skills I&#8217;ve learned over the past six months.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Of course, it is nice to have the stress and anxiety of the exam behind me! Since I&#8217;m going to be taking a break from studying, this will also be my final blog post&hellip;.at least until I get talked into going for the ICND2 exam!</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:c6ef7cbc-b2ff-4632-98df-f858c61537fc] -->icnd1ccentcertificationnetworkingciscoexamstudylearnsucceedThu, 17 May 2012 17:14:22 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/05/17/i-passed2012-05-17T17:14:22Z4 years 7 months ago80https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/i-passedhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2607A Dry Runhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/05/10/a-dry-run
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:65d07e27-a215-4dc4-a110-2fdbc4305b16] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>There&#8217;s just a few days left until I will take, and hopefully pass, the ICND1 exam. In anticipation of my test date on May 12, I decided to simulate, as best I could, the entire testing experience. I started with a <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/market/prod/productView.se.work?/nxt/rcrs/proieidentity/=20299&amp;utm_source=cln_ccna&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=rgrimmick" target="_blank" title="Cisco Certification Practice Exam for 640-822 ICND1">Cisco Certification Practice Exam for 640-822 ICND1</a> and drove to a local library to replicate the experience of taking an exam outside the comfort of my own home. I even tried to take the practice exam around the same time of day as my actual exam appointment. This was probably overkill, but I wanted to get a good sense of how I would feel and what my state of mind would be like.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>There were a few interesting surprises that came out of this little adventure. First, the Cisco Certification Practice Exam was quite a bit different from the other practice tests I had been using. Some of the questions actually seemed pretty easy, but others covered material that I completely had not expected. One, for example, asked which RFC document defines private IP networks. As luck would have it I selected the correct answer (It&#8217;s RFC 1918, if you were wondering) by pure chance, but I had never viewed this as an important detail to memorize. There were probably about five or six questions like this that I felt absolutely unprepared for.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>This was also the first practice exam I took that had a time limit attached to it, and I did not really know what to expect. I was pretty surprised when I finished all 50 questions of the exam in under an hour &#8211; well under the 90 minute limit of the official ICND1 exam. This tells me that I may need to worry a little less on time management and focus more on reading each question, making sure I understand it, and really analyzing each answer so that I&#8217;m as successful as possible.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>My overall score was just under 80%. Those unexpected questions certainly put a dent in my overall score, but there were some other areas I found I need to brush up on as well. I missed three questions that asked about specific IOS commands or behaviors, and was partially incorrect on another question that asked for three true statements about setting up an IOS device. I&#8217;ve spent a lot of time lately practicing subnetting and other skills, and to be honest I think I&#8217;ve really let my IOS&nbsp; skills lapse, so part of my final studying will likely involve practice on network simulators.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I also need to see what I can do about those questions that came as a total shock to me. The large amount of material that ICND1 covers means I probably will see unfamiliar questions, but the more I can do to cut down on that the better.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:65d07e27-a215-4dc4-a110-2fdbc4305b16] -->Thu, 10 May 2012 15:09:45 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/05/10/a-dry-run2012-05-10T15:09:45Z4 years 7 months ago30https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/a-dry-runhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2597Practice, Practice, Practicehttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/05/03/practice-practice-practice
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:95aed656-b1ba-40f3-9d0f-d65bbc2abed9] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>I&#8217;ve talked a lot about studying and practicing for my upcoming ICND1 exam in previous blog posts, but I&#8217;ve realized that I haven&#8217;t been very specific about how I&#8217;m studying. Since there&#8217;s an almost endless array of studying options available for a prospective CCENT candidate, I thought it might be helpful to provide an overview of how I&#8217;ve been preparing for the exam.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Most of my studying in recent months has been hands-on practice. I finished reading my textbooks quite awhile ago, and now I consult them only occasionally to refresh my memory on certain topics.&nbsp; I&#8217;ve spent most of my time practicing on the Pearson IT Certification Practice Test, which is included with many of the CCENT and CCNA bundles from Cisco Press. (As far as I know, there is no way to get the practice test as a standalone product).</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>As far as the practice tests themselves, I&#8217;ve varied things a little over time. The application allows users to select questions from one, all, or a mix of topics that can be found on the ICND1 exam. Initially I focused on specific topics, but for the past couple of weeks I&#8217;ve included all topics to better reflect what I expect to see on the real test. I started with 40 to 50 questions at a time, but during the week I&#8217;ve cut that roughly in half due to a lack of time. Sometimes I&#8217;ll spread a single practice test out over multiple sittings, answering a few questions at a time whenever I can find a spare moment. I&#8217;m hoping this strategy will help to keep things fresh in my head even when I can&#8217;t find time for a full test.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Of course, the Pearson exam engine only has a limited bank of questions, and I&#8217;m starting to recognize questions as I take more and more practice tests. To keep myself challenged I&#8217;ve started using additional tools in my studying. This has included subnetting questions from both of my textbooks, Cisco&#8217;s MindShare game, and other sites on the Internet. I&#8217;ve also used quiz questions from the textbooks as well as the lab guide from the ICND1 class I took last December.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I should point out that there are many different studying techniques available to CCENT students, and what I have been doing might not be the best strategy for other students. This is just one of the many options available, and I encourage all who may be preparing for the ICND1 exam (or any other Cisco exam) to keep an open mind and develop tactics that reflect their own learning styles.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:95aed656-b1ba-40f3-9d0f-d65bbc2abed9] -->icnd1ccentcertificationnetworkingciscoexamsubnetlabstudypracticesimlearnThu, 03 May 2012 16:51:08 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/05/03/practice-practice-practice2012-05-03T16:51:08Z4 years 7 months ago0https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/practice-practice-practicehttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2598Not Readyhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/04/22/not-ready
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:cc2cc371-f756-4de8-a91b-735acdd1a33f] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>In my last blog post,&nbsp; I asked the question &#8220;<a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/04/12/what-makes-a-person-ready-for-an-exam" target="_blank" title="What makes a person ready for an exam?">What makes a person ready for an exam?</a>&rdquo; After reflecting on this question ,&nbsp; I&#8217;ve decided that I am not ready for my ICND1 exam, which was set for this Saturday, April 21st. I&#8217;m a little disappointed that I&#8217;ve had to take this step, but there&#8217;s no question in my mind that I&#8217;m just not ready to take the exam at this point.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>First of all, I just haven&#8217;t had enough free time to properly prepare. We&#8217;ve all heard the old line about there not being enough hours in the day, and for me that has definitely been true over the past couple of weeks. Between important new projects at work, spending some time with my family, and a variety of life&#8217;s other little nuisances-- like sleeping-- I barely got any studying in at all.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Last weekend, for example,&nbsp; I loaded all of my Cisco Press textbooks into the trunk of my car, with the intention of reviewing them after I got to my parents&#8217; house in Arizona. A little over 600 miles later and they were still in my trunk.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I also don&#8217;t think I would be ready psychologically by Saturday. As I noted in last week&#8217;s post, this could be an important but easy-to-overlook factor in whether or not I succeed on the exam. Most of this comes from being so busy, but I do have a small piece of advice for anyone scheduling a test or exam: don&#8217;t schedule it too close to tax day!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I have been frustrated and disappointed at having to make this move, but I'm already learning how to channel that frustration into a new sense of motivation. Since I'm determined to avoid the same problem in the future, I've rescheduled my exam for mid-May and have worked out a fairly aggressive studying schedule. Upcoming weekends will be devoted almost entirely to studying, and I'm also setting a target of at least 20 minutes every day to keep my subnetting skills sharp. I'm already feeling more ambitious than I have in quite some time, and have gotten more practice in over the past couple of days than I did the entire week before. I may not make my original goal, but I'm still determined to cross that finish line!</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:cc2cc371-f756-4de8-a91b-735acdd1a33f] -->Mon, 23 Apr 2012 05:29:16 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/04/22/not-ready2012-04-23T05:29:16Z4 years 8 months ago30https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/not-readyhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2588What Makes A Person Ready for an Exam?https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/04/12/what-makes-a-person-ready-for-an-exam
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:fb26ad11-741c-402f-a2d9-fd846646f941] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>What makes someone &#8220;ready&rdquo; to take an exam? Most of us, myself included, probably jump straight to an answer like &#8220;thoroughly knowing the subject matter&rdquo;. But as I look back upon all of the tests I took in college, high school, even going back to elementary school, the difference between exams I &#8220;aced&rdquo; and those I didn&#8217;t do so well on wasn&#8217;t always based on how hard I studied.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Elements like the type of exam, the environment I took it in, even my state of mind played huge roles in how I did on a test. I remember during one of my earliest experiences with standardized testing in elementary school, I&#8217;d become so frustrated after several days of non-stop testing that I simply gave up on reading the questions and just marked completely random answers. Needless to say, I didn&#8217;t do too well.&nbsp; Yes, I was young, but there were plenty of college midterms and finals I could have done better on had all of the circumstances been ideal.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;d never really thought about this until I viewed a webinar here on the Cisco Learning Network about <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/docs/DOC-13934" target="_blank" title="best practices for exam preparation">best practices for exam preparation</a>. The two presenters--Dr. Stephanie Burns--an, an expert in self-study learning, and Anthony Sequeira, a CCIE, VIP and Cisco Certified Instructor--came up with four &#8220;pillars&rdquo; that are key to mastering an exam.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>The first of these pillars is <strong>Technical Knowledge</strong>, which includes both knowledge of the exam content as well as the format and presentation of the exam itself. While it&#8217;s impossible to know exactly what&#8217;s on any specific exam, the presenters pointed out that Cisco offers both a <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/docs/DOC-4986" target="_blank" title="comprehensive list of objectives">comprehensive list of objectives</a> and <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/learning_certification_exam_tutorial.html" target="_blank" title="a sample exam for the ICND1 exam">a sample exam for the ICND1 exam </a>(as well as exams for many of the other Cisco certifications). I briefly looked these over when I started studying for the ICND1 exam, but haven&#8217;t looked at them since, which was probably a mistake.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Pillar number two is <strong>Strategy</strong>. One&#8217;s strategy can vary depending on the format of the exam, but it one&#8217;s main strategic focus is on time management.&nbsp; For example, router simulation types of questions--which any CCENT candidate is likely to face--are much more complex than the simple multiple-choice style questions. However, even with their complexity, candidates need to be able to answer simulation questions and quickly move on, even if they aren&#8217;t sure of the answer, otherwise they will run out of time for the rest of the questions on the exam. (Note that on an actual exam, you cannot go back to work on a previous question once you have moved on.)</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>The third pillar, <strong>Psychology</strong>, was particularly interesting to me. One of my biggest obstacles lately has been getting in the right psychological state of mind to prepare for the exam. I can&#8217;t honestly tell you that I&#8217;m looking forward to my April 21&nbsp; exam date, but I&#8217;m going to try and follow a piece of advice from Dr. Burns: Don&#8217;t think about what it will be like to take the exam until I&#8217;m actually sitting in the testing room. As she points out, every minute spent fretting about the exam is a minute I can&#8217;t devote to studying. I also like her suggestion of regarding the exam as feedback on my study plan. If I do fail the exam, it simply means I need to adjust my study tactics based on that &#8220;feedback.&rdquo; (Though I&#8217;m hoping not to fail!)</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;m not terribly worried about my <strong>Physical Wellness</strong>, the fourth pillar.&nbsp; I have already taken a few steps to help make sure I&#8217;m in the best condition possible for the exam, though. For one thing, since my brain never seems to be fully up and running before 10 a.m., I made sure to schedule the exam for the afternoon. I&#8217;m also keeping my schedule open around the exam date so that I can be fully rested when I go to take the test.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>It was good to get these pointers to help me get the most out of my learning experience and out of the exam experience as well.&nbsp; Anyone have other tactics that have worked for them that you&#8217;d like to share?</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:fb26ad11-741c-402f-a2d9-fd846646f941] -->icnd1ccentcertificationnetworkingciscoexamstudysucceedThu, 12 Apr 2012 15:39:23 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/04/12/what-makes-a-person-ready-for-an-exam2012-04-12T15:39:23Z4 years 8 months ago20https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/what-makes-a-person-ready-for-an-examhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2573Tips for Mastering Subnettinghttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/04/05/tips-for-mastering-subnetting
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:2366ba76-ac30-4dab-b848-7ef334cd143b] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>As I approach the end of my CCENT journey, I feel it&#8217;s only fair to discuss some of the study techniques I&#8217;ve used up to this point and how they&#8217;ve helped, or not..</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>In this post I want to talk specifically about subnetting, because it&#8217;s both an essential skill to master for the ICND1 exam as well as one of the areas I found particularly challenging.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>To really master the concept of subnetworks, it&#8217;s vital that you choose an approach that closely matches your individual learning style. This is perhaps truer with subnetting than with any other aspect of the ICND1 exam. Most of the textbooks I&#8217;ve looked at take a very math-heavy approach, with long discussions of binary math and Boolean arithmetic. If you&#8217;re the type of person who loves math, this is a great place to start. If you&#8217;re like me, however, explaining concepts in terms of exponents and Boolean AND operations is a actually hindrance rather than a help. I&#8217;ve also found this to be a topic that is very hard to learn through reading.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>A much more effective option for me to learn subnetting was to actually watch as someone went through the processes of calculating subnets, converting between different notations, and performing other tasks that I&#8217;ll likely encounter on the exam. Between the live instruction in my ICND1 class in December and the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/market/prod/productView.se.work?/nxt/rcrs/proieidentity/=19118&amp;/nxt/rcrs/aisidentity/=2532" target="_blank" title="Mobile Learning Module">Mobile Learning Module</a> from the Cisco Learning Network Store, I was able to get a pretty good handle on the subject. I was also able to comprehend well the subnetting chapters in Wendell Odom&#8217;s <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;offerid=184214.10000208&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" target="_blank" title="CCENT/CCNA ICND1Official Exam Certification Guide">CCENT/CCNA ICND1Official Exam Certification Guide</a>.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Most people start by reading the book first, but if you&#8217;re like me and have a brain that isn&#8217;t mathematically oriented, you may want to start with a practical demonstration before jumping into theory.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>There&#8217;s also a couple of tricks that can help to cut down on the amount of time it takes to perform certain tasks. The two most popular are known as the &#8220;Magic Number&rdquo; and the &#8220;Finger Trick.&rdquo; There&#8217;s a ton of examples of the Magic Number trick under the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/community/certifications/ccent/icnd1?view=documents" target="_blank" title="ICND1 Documents section">ICND1 Documents section</a>&nbsp; of this site; Keith Barker, my instructor for the ICND1 course, did a good job of explaining the &#8220;Finger Trick&rdquo; in <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/blogs/ccent-taking-the-plunge/2012/03/01/confusion-on-classes-of-network#comment-26853" target="_blank" title="this comment">this comment</a> on a colleague&#8217;s blog post. There are many different ways for someone to explain this trick to you, so if it doesn&#8217;t make sense to you one way, look around, ask your friends and coworkers, or even check YouTube for an explanation that works better for you.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>No matter which method you choose, it is absolutely critical to practice as often as possible. I really can&#8217;t stress this enough, as I&#8217;ve seen my own skills lapse more than once due to lack of practice. Don&#8217;t let yourself get comfortable with one source of practice questions, either, as the questions on the exam may be worded much differently or even presented as part of a more complex problem. Make sure you can not only calculate subnets, but you can also analyze real-world problems and apply your subnetting skills to practical situations.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:2366ba76-ac30-4dab-b848-7ef334cd143b] -->icnd1ccentcertificationciscosubnettingexamsubnetstudysucceedThu, 05 Apr 2012 15:39:23 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/04/05/tips-for-mastering-subnetting2012-04-05T15:39:23Z4 years 8 months ago0https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/tips-for-mastering-subnettinghttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2572Secrets of a Successful Studierhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/29/secrets-of-a-successful-studier
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:985b2b22-9dbb-42aa-9871-1b81179f079a] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>In a perfect world, I would have spent the last week cramming for my ICND1 exam, scheduled for less than a month from now. In the real world, I got almost no studying done. I could give you many different excuses &#8211; frustrating bugs at work that made me sick of technology, car problems eating up several hours of my free time, or the unusually gloomy weather in Southern California that seems to drain the motivation out of all of us that are used to sunshine and 70 degrees. The truth, though, is that none of those things really prevented me from studying, making them nothing more than excuses. I don&#8217;t know why exactly I haven&#8217;t been able to bring myself to study. Maybe I&#8217;m suffering from a little bit of burnout, or maybe my mind just needed a break. Either way, I&#8217;ve realized that I&#8217;m not alone.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>About two weeks ago, the Cisco Learning Network hosted a special webinar dedicated to the needs of self-study students. Feeling frustrated at my lack of progress, I decided to check out the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/docs/DOC-13877" target="_blank" title="archived version of the webinar">archived version of the webinar</a>, which was hosted by an adult learning expert and a CCIE-certified instructor / network engineer. The discussion between these two was fascinating, and demonstrated that most, if not all, self-study students go through exactly the same thing. In fact, most people who enter into a self-study program not only procrastinate, but quit entirely after about three to six weeks. Only about 10-20% of people who set themselves a goal of completing a particular study regimen actually complete it.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>So what is the secret behind this successful 10-20%? According to these two experts, it&#8217;s not as elusive as you might think. They faced the same frustrations and distractions as the rest of us, and weren&#8217;t any smarter or more interested in their topics. There were two major differences in this successful group. First, many of them were able to avoid thinking about studying and the stresses that come with it and just sit down and do it. When they couldn&#8217;t avoid thinking about it, they were able to channel their negative thoughts into productivity, the second major difference. The fear of what would happen if they didn&#8217;t get their homework done, for example, motivated them to do their homework.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>It was a pretty big relief to know that what I was feeling is not that unusual. The webinar was also filled with plenty of suggestions for becoming a part of this small successful group. I&#8217;m hoping that I can use some of these suggestions to become more successful, and ultimately pass the INCD1 exam. By a lucky coincidence, a follow-up webinar next Thursday is going to cover the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/docs/DOC-13934" target="_blank" title="Best Practices for Exam Preparation">Best Practices for Exam Preparation</a>. The timing is perfect for me, and I&#8217;m hoping it will help me evaluate whether or not I&#8217;m truly ready for my exam at the end of April.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:985b2b22-9dbb-42aa-9871-1b81179f079a] -->icnd1ccentcertificationciscoexamstudylearnsucceedThu, 29 Mar 2012 15:51:22 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/29/secrets-of-a-successful-studier2012-03-29T15:51:22Z4 years 8 months ago10https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/secrets-of-a-successful-studierhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2561No Turning Backhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/22/no-turning-back
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:ff97ccb1-254e-4080-b3bb-88687fb161ab] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>Well, I&#8217;ve taken one of the final steps toward earning my CCENT certification. I have officially scheduled a date to take the ICND1 exam. The date I ended up with &#8211; April 21 &#8211; is about a month later than my original goal, but I&#8217;m hoping that extra time will leave me better prepared.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>There are&nbsp; a few things that I&#8217;m really going to prioritize in the remainder of my study time. First, I need to get faster at things like subnet calculations and analyzing network diagrams. Cisco&#8217;s exams are timed, and although it&#8217;s an entry level exam, ICND1 doesn&#8217;t have a reputation for being overly generous when it comes to time limits. I&#8217;ll need to be both competent and quick in order to receive a passing score. I&#8217;ll also need to be able to recognize when I&#8217;m spending too much time on a single question, so that I can skip it if I need to.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Another thing I&#8217;ll need to work on is weaning myself off of any tools or aides I may have used while studying. The guidelines for Cisco exams are very strict, and things like calculators, notepads, and flash cards cannot be taken into the testing room. For much of the exam content this won&#8217;t be a problem, though I have to admit,&nbsp;&nbsp; I&#8217;ve used a few crutches while practicing some of my subnet calculations. That won&#8217;t be an option when I get to the real thing, so I&#8217;ll need to get used to not having these tools available.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I still have a little bit of trepidation about the test, but overall I think nailing down an exact date and time for it is going to help me. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, coming from a journalism background means that deadlines tend to motivate me rather than intimidate me. I&#8217;m hoping that with the test date just a month away, I&#8217;ll be more inclined to study in the precious moments of free time I have left .</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:ff97ccb1-254e-4080-b3bb-88687fb161ab] -->icnd1ccentcertificationciscoexamstudyThu, 22 Mar 2012 15:51:22 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/22/no-turning-back2012-03-22T15:51:22Z4 years 9 months ago60https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/no-turning-backhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2556Last Minute Butterflieshttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/15/last-minute-butterflies
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:147d04de-09de-4f72-a27c-be7de7b987e6] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>One of the final challenges facing a student studying for any type of professional certification is knowing when you&#8217;re ready to take the exam. In school, test dates are fixed and you&#8217;re either ready for them when they come or you&#8217;re not. Professional certifications are quite different. They can be taken at any point, and there are no midterms or quizzes to gauge your progress against. The incremental learning path I grew accustomed to in college is gone, replaced by a sink-or-swim world where it&#8217;s entirely up to me to prove what I know.&nbsp; It&#8217;s a bit like the difference between analog and digital &#8211; education is built on measuring performance metrics at different levels, while certifications are a pass or fail, 1 or 0 type of undertaking.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>There are a couple of things about this new learning world that have really thrown me for a loop. First of all, I&#8217;m still not really sure what to expect from the ICND1 exam. Cisco doesn&#8217;t publish any of the actual exam questions for obvious reasons, but even the types of questions seem to be rather fluid. I did a little research on discussion boards here and elsewhere and found that many people were quite surprised at the makeup of their test. One person, for example, spent a lot of time practicing subnetting only to wind up answering only a single subnetting question on the exam. Another was surprised by an exam heavy on WAN configuration questions, while others actually thought the real ICND1 exam was easier than some of the practice tests out there. The uncertainty over what exactly I&#8217;m going to be facing is making me a bit uneasy, but I guess the best way to deal with that is to make sure I&#8217;m equally proficient in everything.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>With only the self-imposed end date, it&#8217;s again up to me to determine when I&#8217;ve reached a point where it&#8217;s time to stop studying and take the exam. There are, of course, practice tests and self-assessments that can help you gauge your progress, but I&#8217;m not sure any of them really does a good job of truly preparing you for what to expect on the real exam. The topics covered may be the same, but the way each question is worded might be completely different from the actual test. None of them have exactly the same interface as the real thing, and it&#8217;s impossible to replicate the pressure of being in a proctored exam environment. Cisco doesn&#8217;t officially publish the score required to pass the exam either, so the scoring criteria for some of the practice tests may be quite different from what will ultimately be used.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;d like to hear from some people who may be in the same situation as me, or perhaps who have already taken the exam. Do you or did you feel ready? For those of you who have already taken the ICDN1 exam, without revealing any specifics on the exam&#8217;s content, was it what you expected?</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:147d04de-09de-4f72-a27c-be7de7b987e6] -->icnd1ccentcertificationnetworkingciscosubnettingexamsubnetstudyThu, 15 Mar 2012 15:51:22 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/15/last-minute-butterflies2012-03-15T15:51:22Z4 years 9 months ago0https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/last-minute-butterflieshttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2536Planning for the End, Part 2https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/08/planning-for-the-end-part-2
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:cc661fd3-50e5-475c-84e8-4d8fbc276d91] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>In last week&#8217;s blog post, I talked about preparing for the end of my CCENT journey. This week I&#8217;ve continued my preparations and have made some decent progress.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>My first task was to look into the process of registering for the exam. I highly recommend doing this as early as possible in your studies, because it can be a little confusing. You have the option of registering online, via phone, or in person at some test centers. If you choose the online option as I did, you&#8217;ll need to create an account with <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://www.pearsonvue.com/cisco/" target="_blank" title="Pearson VUE">Pearson VUE</a>, the Cisco partner responsible for administering most Cisco Certification exams. Once you provide some initial information during the sign-up process, you&#8217;ll have the opportunity to search for open exam appointments at nearby test centers. You may have to weigh convenience against the realities of your schedule. In my case, the closest test centers only had weekday appointments, while the one that administered exams on the weekend was the farthest away of the five test centers near me.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Once I had figured out how register for the exam, the next thing I had to do was discover the topics I needed to brush up on. I mentioned in last week&#8217;s post that my study tactics would depend on which topics my practice tests showed I needed to work on. After having taken quite a few practice tests, I&#8217;ve realized there&#8217;s a little more to it than that. For the areas I had trouble in, I found the most effective study method also depended on <em>why </em>I was missing questions.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Once I had figured out how register for the exam, the next thing I had to do was discover the topics I needed to brush up on. I mentioned in last week&#8217;s post that my study tactics would depend on which topics my practice tests showed I needed to work on. After having taken quite a few practice tests, I&#8217;ve realized there&#8217;s a little more to it than that. For the areas I had trouble in, I found the most effective study method also depended on why I was missing questions. If you&#8217;ve ever taken the ICND1 exam or even a practice test for the ICND1 exam, you know that some questions require critical thinking and analysis, while others are a test of your memorization skills. In a practice test on the fundamentals of IPv4 Routing and Addressing, for example, I did fine on questions that asked me to analyze a network diagram or describe general characteristics of routing and addressing. However, I missed several of the questions requiring memorization, such as the number of hosts that can exist in a Class B network and the ranges reserved for Class D networks. Since the problems I had with this topic were related to a lack of memorization as opposed to a lack of comprehension on the topic, I changed my study plan a little bit. Re-reading chapter 5 in the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;offerid=184214.10000208&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" target="_blank" title="CCENT/CCNA ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide">CCENT/CCNA ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide</a> by Wendell Odom didn&#8217;t seem like the most efficient way to get these things memorized, so I turned to my notes and started creating my own memorization tables to fill out. There are also some flash cards available from Cisco Press that serve much the same purpose.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>For the rest of the topics, I&#8217;ve come up with a few different strategies. For topics I&#8217;m already strong in, like wireless networking, the practice tests themselves serve as sufficient preparation. I know from past experience that my subnetting skills will lapse if I don&#8217;t practice them enough, so part of my preparation is going to include lots of subnet practice in several different forms. For other areas, I may try reading the appropriate chapter from a different textbook than I read the first time around (for those of you who haven&#8217;t read my previous posts, I&#8217;ve been using both the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;offerid=184214.10000208&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" target="_blank" title="CCENT/CCNA ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide">CCENT/CCNA ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide</a> by Wendell Odom and the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;offerid=184214.784040&amp;type=2&amp;subid=0" target="_blank" title="Interconnecting&nbsp; Cisco Network Devices, Part 1 (ICND1): CCNA Exam 640-802 and ICND1 Exam 640-822">Interconnecting&nbsp; Cisco Network Devices, Part 1 (ICND1): CCNA Exam 640-802 and ICND1 Exam 640-822</a> by Stephen McQuerry).</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>As this week has demonstrated, studying for the ICND1 exam needs to be a fluid process, and you should be ready to adapt your strategies to find the most effective method that works for you.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:cc661fd3-50e5-475c-84e8-4d8fbc276d91] -->icnd1ccentcertificationroutingnetworkingciscoexamstudyThu, 08 Mar 2012 16:51:22 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/08/planning-for-the-end-part-22012-03-08T16:51:22Z4 years 9 months ago0https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/planning-for-the-end-part-2https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2521Planning for the Endhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/01/planning-for-the-end
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:6c15ea47-6cc7-4f5e-baa6-a9ae6ce74a32] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>It&#8217;s time to start thinking about the end. No, I&#8217;m not talking about Mayan prophecies, doomsday scenarios or the seemingly eternal GOP primary process. I&#8217;m talking about the end of my journey towards a CCENT certification. I have just a few more weeks to go before my self-imposed deadline &#8211; the end of winter (March 21) &#8211; to attempt the ICND1 exam. With so little time left, I need to make a plan for how to wrap up my studies.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>My first task is going to be to find a test center nearby and figure out exactly when the ICND1 exam is offered. I probably should have done this before now, but never really thought about it for some reason.&nbsp; Fortunately, the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://www.pearsonvue.com/cisco/" target="_blank" title="Pearson VUE site">Pearson VUE site</a> &#8212; the Cisco partner company that actually administers exams-- makes this information easy to find (access their site directly or via the&nbsp; <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/community/certifications/ccna/icnd1?tab=4" target="_blank" title="Take Your Exam">Take Your Exam</a> tab in the ICND1 section of this site).</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I&#8217;ll also need to design a strategy to strengthen my knowledge of the concepts I&#8217;m weak in. First, though, of course, I&#8217;ll need to identify which concepts I might be weak in. To do this, I plan on customizing some practice tests in the Pearson IT Certification Practice Test program, available as part of several CCENT and CCNA bundles sold through <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;offerid=184214.10000207&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CiscoPress.com</a><a href="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;bids=184214.10000207&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0"><img border="0" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;bids=184214.10000207&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" width="1"/></a>, to focus on specific topics, and then examine the results, one by one, to identify the knowledge gaps.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>After I&#8217;ve identified the topics I need to brush up on, I&#8217;ll need to select the best methods for studying each of these topics, because no one method works best for everything that&#8217;s covered on the exam. Memorization exercises and quizzes are good for things like the OSI model and LAN/WAN fundamentals, while more complex aspects of LAN/WAN configuration and troubleshooting need to be practiced in an IOS simulator. The results of my practice tests will dictate how I plan out the different type of studying I need.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Once I&#8217;ve made a study plan, the final task will be to implement it. This can sometimes be more difficult than it sounds, as it&#8217;s not always as simple as sitting down to study. I&#8217;ll need to make sure I carve out enough free time for these final study sessions, and that I&#8217;m not tempted to blow it off for something else. This may also include telling my friends and family that I&#8217;m not going to have a social life for a little while. Hopefully, seeing the end of my journey ahead of me will be a great motivational tool.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:6c15ea47-6cc7-4f5e-baa6-a9ae6ce74a32] -->Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:09:15 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/03/01/planning-for-the-end2012-03-01T17:09:15Z4 years 9 months ago20https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/planning-for-the-endhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2507The Right Kind of Knowinghttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/23/the-right-kind-of-knowing
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:348555c4-2786-4524-9999-433bc53a40c6] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>While studying for the ICND1 exam, I&#8217;ve noticed that most of the information falls into one of two categories.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Practical information and skills that IT professionals use every day.</li><li>Theory and background that is-generally less&nbsp; or not applicable in the real world.</li></ul><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Let&#8217;s take wireless networking as an example. It&#8217;s crucial to know the basics of how a wireless network functions, including details like which wireless standards operate at different frequency bands. However, knowing whether your network uses Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) encoding is probably not going to help you during configuration or troubleshooting, but you might be asked about it on the exam.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Other examples that come to mind are topics that have been made irrelevant by changes in technology. While I find things like ancient Ethernet networks, the original 802.11 standard, and the first version of the RIP routing protocol to be interesting from a historical perspective, I don&#8217;t ever expect to come across these outside of a textbook.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>It can be hard to keep up the motivation to study when dealing when topics like these, but sometimes this type of knowledge can provide unexpected benefits. Prior to joining Cisco, I wrote a few basic articles about Long Term Evolution (LTE), the most popular technology behind &#8220;4G&rdquo; wireless networks. I knew from writing these articles that LTE networks use a form of OFDM. Since LTE is &#8220;faster&rdquo; than its predecessors, it was easy for me to remember that the 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11n standards, which are faster than their predecessors, also use OFDM. It may not help me in the current real world, but it has helped me study for the current exam.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Interestingly, having too much real world knowledge of a topic can actually put you at a disadvantage in some cases. A question from a multiple choice quiz in the CCENT/CCNA official cert guide recently caught me off guard because I relied on my own experience instead of what I should have learned from the book. The question asked students to pick out true facts about how a wireless access point (AP) connects to a wired Ethernet LAN. One of the choices was, &#8220;The APs must have an IP Address configured to forward traffic.&rdquo; Now, having configured dozens of wireless access points, I can tell you that virtually every AP, even those without routing features, have at least one IP address for management purposes.&nbsp; From a theoretical standpoint though, these devices do not need an IP address because they operate at Layer 2 of the OSI model and forward wireless frames onto to the Ethernet network (and vice versa). Ironically, my knowledge of how things work in the real world caused me to be overconfident and not think about that answer thoroughly enough. So someone with less practical experience might have had an advantage over me, in this particular case, assuming they read the book of course.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:348555c4-2786-4524-9999-433bc53a40c6] -->Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:27:10 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/23/the-right-kind-of-knowing2012-02-23T20:27:10Z4 years 10 months ago20https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/the-right-kind-of-knowinghttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2488In Search of Total Recallhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/17/in-search-of-total-recall
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:5b73d374-c86e-46b9-877a-ff3d23f3e06a] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>There is a widely recited myth that people only remember about 10 percent of what they read.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>While that statistic is probably not accurate, very few of us can recall 100 percent of what we read, especially with lengthier technical materials like certification prep books. The <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;offerid=184214.10000208&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CCENT/CCNA ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide by Wendell Odom</a><a href="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;bids=184214.10000208&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;bids=184214.10000208&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0" width="1"/></a>, the primary source of information for my studies, is close to 700 pages long, and there&#8217;s no getting around the fact that I&#8217;ll need to know much of that information by heart in order to pass the ICND1 exam. Clearly, a recollection of 10, 20, even 50 percent isn&#8217;t going to cut it.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Over the past week or so, I&#8217;ve been working on strategies to improve my memory and recall skills. I began with a pretty simple idea: read a chapter from the study guide at night, and try to fill out the &#8220;Memory Tables&rdquo; the next morning. The guide includes one of these memory tables, which asks you to define key terms or concepts, for each of the chapters in the book. I&#8217;ve found these to be useful both for making sure I&#8217;ve absorbed the essential information from recent reading as well as keeping older concepts fresh in my head. The &#8220;Do I Know This Already?&rdquo; quizzes that come before each chapter are also good for this.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>I also wanted to make sure I didn&#8217;t rely exclusively on this strategy, so in addition to the memory tables and quizzes, I&#8217;ve been using the Pearson IT Certification Practice Test engine that&#8217;s included on the textbook&#8217;s companion CD. In study mode, the exam engine allows you to select a pool of questions from specific chapters. For a quick refresh or study session, I select the most current chapter I&#8217;ve finished along with an earlier chapter. This lets me keep things fresh and helps prevent older material from slipping away.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>With such a large amount of material to cover, it&#8217;s essential to continually study and practice older concepts to stay proficient.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:5b73d374-c86e-46b9-877a-ff3d23f3e06a] -->icnd1ccentcertificationroutingnetworkingciscoexamstudyFri, 17 Feb 2012 18:53:00 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/17/in-search-of-total-recall2012-02-17T18:53:00Z4 years 10 months ago20https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/in-search-of-total-recallhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2485The Power of Deadlineshttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/09/the-power-of-deadlines
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:c692bc1b-58c1-4726-af1f-f8195d6aa2d7] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>Coming from a journalism background, I&#8217;m used to dealing with deadlines.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Sure, they can be stressful at times, but the stress of being up against a deadline can also make me much more productive. With my self-imposed deadline to take the ICND1 exam by the end of winter quickly approaching, I&#8217;ve realized that I need to pick up the pace of my studying.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>The first thing I needed to concentrate on was mastering subnetting, a skill I had lost over the last couple of months due to lack of practice. I&#8217;d been putting this off for a while, but it was clear that I couldn&#8217;t afford to procrastinate any longer. So, with the deadline in mind and an unusual block of free time on a Monday afternoon, I set out to conquer the subnetting beast once and for all.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>To give myself a quick refresher, I downloaded two <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="/community/learning_center/m-learning" title="Cisco M-Learning modules">Cisco M-Learning modules</a> &#8211; <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/market/prod/productView.se.work?/nxt/rcrs/proieidentity/=19118&amp;/nxt/rcrs/aisidentity/=2571" target="_blank" title="Cisco Subnet Calculations Part I: Subnetting a Class C Network">Cisco Subnet Calculations Part I: Subnetting a Class C Network</a> and <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/market/prod/productView.se.work?/nxt/rcrs/proieidentity/=19117&amp;/nxt/rcrs/aisidentity/=2571" target="_blank" title="Cisco Subnet Calculations Part II: Subnetting Class A and B Networks">Cisco Subnet Calculations Part II: Subnetting Class A and B Networks</a>. These modules really focus on how to quickly calculate the answers to common subnetting questions, but because they don&#8217;t go into any background on the topic, they should really only be used by people with at least some knowledge of how subnet masks work. This was perfect for me, and it wasn&#8217;t long before I was using the flash cards that came with each module to calculate valid host ranges, broadcast and network addresses, and the number of hosts a given subnet scheme can provide.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Up until now, most of my studying has taken place on the weekends. I love technology, but it&#8217;s hard for me to get into a mood to study routing, switching, subnetting, and other topics after spending 8 hours of the day in front of a computer. Getting the hang of subnetting (again) has inspired me to be more aggressive in the rest of my studies. This was one of the biggest hurdles for me, and now that it is behind me I feel much closer to achieving my goal of being CCENT certified. I&#8217;m hoping that my deadline helps me keep up this level of enthusiasm and is just what I need to push me to stick to a more ambitious studying schedule.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:c692bc1b-58c1-4726-af1f-f8195d6aa2d7] -->icnd1ccentcertificationroutingnetworkingciscosubnettingexamsubnetstudyThu, 09 Feb 2012 17:08:01 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/09/the-power-of-deadlines2012-02-09T17:08:01Z4 years 10 months ago20https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/the-power-of-deadlineshttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2470CCENT Note Taking in the Digital Agehttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/02/ccent-note-taking-in-the-digital-age
<!-- [DocumentBodyStart:e5eb0e11-ecb4-418e-9ea5-4b4c2f5c408b] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>I&#8217;ve never been a great note taker. During middle school I&#8217;d often write things down in a notebook or piece of copy paper only to lose it before ever seeing it again. I kept trying throughout high school, if only to humor my teachers, but it was really very little help to me. In college I did almost all of my note taking on a laptop computer. This was a huge improvement, but still not an ideal solution. The ICND1 exam is more daunting than anything I faced in college, and while you need more than a sharp memory to pass, there certainly are things you need to know by heart.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-2460-89697/Evernote+20120129+20%3A33%3A14.jpg"><img alt="Evernote 20120129 20:33:14.jpg" class="jive-image" height="336" src="https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-2460-89697/Evernote+20120129+20%3A33%3A14.jpg" style="float: left;" width="252"/></a>As part of my preparation for the exam, I&#8217;ve been experimenting with new note taking strategies. Technology has changed quite a bit in the short time since I was in college, and there are opportunities today for digital note taking that I couldn&#8217;t even have imagined a few years ago. A few nights ago I used an app&nbsp; on my iPad called Evernote to take this picture of a classful IP addressing table from</p><p><a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=iUHn3dcg49E&amp;offerid=184214.784040&amp;type=2&amp;subid=0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Interconnecting&nbsp;&nbsp; Cisco Network Devices, Part 1 (ICND1): CCNA Exam 640-802 and ICND1 Exam 640-822</a>. Evernote and similar apps also sync up with the cloud, so I now have access to that table across all my devices anywhere I might be. I&#8217;ll never be able to lose my notes again!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>This type of note taking seems particularly well suited to certification studies, where more than one medium is often used. When your notes are digital, they can include digital content like pictures, video, and snippets of a web page. I also really like being able to copy and paste because I can get the content I want into my notes in a fraction of the time it would take to write it down by hand. For someone with limited time to study, this is a huge benefit.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p>Organization is also much easier using this method. As I mentioned before, syncing notes to the cloud means I never have to worry about where I put them or about which note is on what page. If I find one source of information explains a concept more clearly than another source, I can easily update or edit my notes without having to cross out or erase things. I think the biggest organizational benefit may come later on when it&#8217;s time to review my notes. I plan on tagging my notes according to topic: OSI model, IP Addressing, Routing, Switching and so on. Then I can easily search or browse entire topics of notes at once!</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:e5eb0e11-ecb4-418e-9ea5-4b4c2f5c408b] -->icnd1ccentcertificationroutingciscoexamstudynoteThu, 02 Feb 2012 17:00:58 GMTbounce@learningnetwork.cisco.comhttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/2012/02/02/ccent-note-taking-in-the-digital-age2012-02-02T17:00:58Z4 years 10 months ago0https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/comment/ccent-note-taking-in-the-digital-agehttps://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/journey-to-ccent/feeds/comments?blogPost=2460